Mikhail Kukushkin and Andrey Rublev meet in the quarterfinals of the 2019 tennis Open 13.

Mikhail Kukushkin is coming off a straight sets win over Denis Shapovalov that took 23 games to decide. In the victory, Kukushkin won 72 percent of his first serve points and 70 percent of his second serve points. Kukushkin won 71 percent of his total service points and saved his only two break points faced. Kukushkin has won all four sets this tournament and has saved all nine break points. Each of Kukushkin’s last six victories have taken place in straight sets, and he hasn’t been broken once in his last three victories. Kukushkin has a chance to win three matches in a single tournament for the first time since Vienna back in October. Kukushkin has won four of his last six matches on indoor hard court.

Andrey Rublev is coming off a straight sets win over Matteo Berrettini that took 22 games to decide. In the victory, Rublev won 75 percent of his first serve points and 58 percent of his second serve points. Rublev won 69 percent of his total service points and converted on two of his six break points. Rublev has been very consistent with his serve this tournament and has upset two quality players to get to this point. Rublev has a chance to win three matches in a single tournament for the first time since Washington back in August. Rublev has won four of his last five matches on indoor hard court.

These two have played four times and Kukushkin has won three of those meetings, including the most recent match last year in Vienna. Rublev’s only win was in St. Petersburg in 2016, a match Kukushkin had to retire before completion. All four matches were decided in straight sets.

Rublev can’t be overlooked based on the two guys he just beat, but the head to head numbers don’t lie and Kukushkin does have an extra advantage with the rest. Rublev also hasn’t put together a deep tournament run in quite some time, so it’s hard to trust him, even if he’s looking sharp at the moment.

I like Kukushkin to reach the semifinals.

Pick:

Mikhail Kukushkin

Randy

Randy Chambers has been with Sports Chat Place since 2014 and covers everything from the NFL to WNBA and tennis. Nobody works harder in this business in terms of content produced and amount of sports covered. Formerly a lead college football writer with Bleacher Report and has had his work featured at Fox Sports, CBS Sports and various other outlets.

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